This wonderful seasonal cake is most probably one of the most delicious raw cakes that I’ve prepared in a while. Or well, it’s more of a semi-raw cake, as the topping is congealed using gelatin (if you’re vegan, you can use e.g. agar-agar powder) and I’ve used normal organic glögi (a Finnish seasonal spiced warm drink, similar to mulled wine). Of course you could make your glögi from scratch out of blackcurrant juice and spices, but this time I decided to take a short cut and use a store-bought glögi. I was inspired to create this cake by my namesake Tuulia’s wonderful gingerbread raw cake and the Christmas cake I tasted in my neighbourhood café in which the bottom crust was made out of gluten-free gingerbread. I also skipped baking my own gingerbread cookies for the crust, and instead used a mixture of almond meal, dates and spices – which turned great!

This cake had the honour of serving as our little girl’s 1-month birthday cake, although she herself got to taste this cake a bit later and a somewhat altered form, haha. Time does fly, and indeed soon it’s Christmas as well. Where does all that time disappear? I’m sure I’ll be preparing this cake again, at least for our Christmas celebrations served together with this delicious date cake [linkki reseptiin]. I’ll bet that our Christmas cake servings are well catered with these two easy cakes. Maybe you’ll do the same thing!

Wishing you a glögi-scented Christmas,
xx

The Most Wonderful of Christmas Cakes (The ’Glögi Cake’)

prepared into a 18-cm cake mold

Crust:
1,5 dl almond meal
1 Tsp gingerbread spice
10 dates
0,5 Tsp salt
virgin coconut oil to grease the mold

Filling:
3,5 dl cashew nuts (soaked, preferrably overnight)
1 dl virgin coconut oil (melted)
½ banana
1 dl strong glögi (organic, or self-made)
1 Tsp real vanilla powder
1 Tsp cardamom

Glaze:
2 dl strong glögi (organic, or self-made)
2 Tbsp gelatin powder

Decoration:
coconut flakes

Prepare the crust first: mix the ingredients in the blender until the dates have mixed in with the almond meal and the dough is easy to press into the bakingsheet covered cake mold with removable sides. Put the cake mold aside into the freezer for the time that you’re preparing the filling.

Put the cashew nuts into the blender and blend for a while, then add the other ingredients. Spread the filling on top of the crust and place the cake back into the cold. Let the cake congeal for another ten minutres.

Prepare the glaze: pour 1 dl of glögi in a small pot and mix in the gelatin powder. Heat up, and when the gelatin has dissolved into the liquid, add the other delitre of glögi into the pot. Pour the glaze on top of the cake and move the cake to solidify in the cold until the glaze has congealed.